Workers repair French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s outdoor photography exhibition which was vandalized during celebrations by PSG fans following their team’s victory in the Champions League, at Place de la Concorde in Paris on May 7, 2026.
Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP
A photography exhibition on ‘living together’ was vandalised by Paris Saint-Germain fans: what an allegory!
On the evening of Wednesday, May 6th, the French capital was abuzz with the excitement of the football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. PSG’s qualification was accompanied by numerous incidents of disorder. On the Place de la Concorde, a photography exhibition bore the brunt of it, being ransacked by somewhat rowdy supporters. Its name? “Living Together.” That says it all.
On Thursday morning, the renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, known for his best-selling albums of aerial photographs of France and the world, took to social media to express his bitterness at the state of disrepair of the temporary exhibition of his works, installed in one of Paris’s most beautiful squares. As far as the eye can see, there are wooden easels on the ground, warped frames, photos pushed in, in some cases even torn. This is all that remains of a photography exhibition that has been on display there since the beginning of April.
He who is sensitive to the cause of the planet did not have to lament, in this case, the effects of a tsunami or a tornado, the result of climate change; this scene of desolation is in fact attributable to supporters who were a little too exuberant in their celebration of their favourite club’s victory.
The intrepid photographer chose to comment on the matter with a touch of humour: “Clearly, the PSG fans loved the exhibition,” explains the famous artist in a video posted on his social media.
Too full o’ the milk of human kindness, he then issued an appeal “to all football fans, everyone who believes living together is important, photography lovers, and everyone who enjoyed this exhibition: please come and lend us a hand this very morning, because it’s a bit of a faff to put it all back together.”
He ended his impassioned plea with a lyrical and rather conciliatory flourish: “I’d like the exhibition to be restored. The photos are a bit damaged, but the meaning will remain. If you’d like to lend us a hand, you’re welcome at Place de la Concorde. We’re here, waiting for you. And we’ll carry on with the exhibition and keep believing in living together more than ever. I send my love to you all, I love you.”
He admitted to having been “a bit sad” all the same when he realised that the perpetrators had gone to such lengths with his photos as to “jump on them.”
Faced with such a display of good intentions, one isn’t quite sure whether to burst out laughing or into tears. This gentleman is having spit spat on him, yet continues “to believe in living together more than ever.”
Some 30 to 40 people did respond to his call to come and restore the exhibition. There will always be people willing to act as if nothing happened, ensuring that the festive charade of subsidized, bland art—which pretends to address everyone—continues uninterrupted, even as it is exactly this kind of art that is being destroyed.
The comments that have since multiplied on news sites and social media are far more sadly realistic: “Living together? Or merely confronting one another?” comments one. “Next time, the exhibition should be called: ‘How to integrate’,” suggests another. “Living together, yes, but not with everyone,” adds yet another internet user.
One could add to the list of these sardonic yet lucid comments a French hashtag that’s all the rage on X: #toutlemondesait (#everybodyknows). Yes, indeed, everyone knows who is behind this large-scale rampage. Supporters who, with all due respect to former interior minister Gérald Darmanin—who believed that the riots on match days were inevitably the fault of the English—have very little that is British about them. Supporters who have made players on Qatar’s payroll their new gods and who couldn’t care less about France to begin with and even less about living together.
On football match nights, decent people hole up at home and wait for the tsunami to pass. A tsunami that is not climatic but demographic. After the match, the current interior minister, Laurent Nunez, announced 127 arrests, 107 of them in Paris, 11 people injured, one seriously (a supporter who handled a firework mortar), and 23 police officers with minor injuries.
In the name of that famous ‘living together’ which increasingly looks like a fantasy—or a nightmare, depending on your point of view—propriety dictates that we should keep quiet and carry on as if nothing had happened. Do not stigmatise, do not complain, do not comment for fear … of what exactly? That hatred will grow stronger and violence more intense? It already has, but not on the part of those who stoop down and, gently, pick up the broken pieces. It is viscerally present in those who mock a weak and cowardly country that dares not put them in their place. It is very sad when it comes to trampled photographs. It is infinitely more serious when it comes to raped women or shattered lives, which cannot be put back together.
Hélène de Lauzun is the Paris correspondent for The European Conservative. She studied at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris. She taught French literature and civilization at Harvard and received a Ph.D. in History from the Sorbonne. She is the author of Histoire de l’Autriche (Perrin, 2021).
‘Living Together’—a Living Nightmare
Workers repair French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s outdoor photography exhibition which was vandalized during celebrations by PSG fans following their team’s victory in the Champions League, at Place de la Concorde in Paris on May 7, 2026.
Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP
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On the evening of Wednesday, May 6th, the French capital was abuzz with the excitement of the football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. PSG’s qualification was accompanied by numerous incidents of disorder. On the Place de la Concorde, a photography exhibition bore the brunt of it, being ransacked by somewhat rowdy supporters. Its name? “Living Together.” That says it all.
On Thursday morning, the renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, known for his best-selling albums of aerial photographs of France and the world, took to social media to express his bitterness at the state of disrepair of the temporary exhibition of his works, installed in one of Paris’s most beautiful squares. As far as the eye can see, there are wooden easels on the ground, warped frames, photos pushed in, in some cases even torn. This is all that remains of a photography exhibition that has been on display there since the beginning of April.
He who is sensitive to the cause of the planet did not have to lament, in this case, the effects of a tsunami or a tornado, the result of climate change; this scene of desolation is in fact attributable to supporters who were a little too exuberant in their celebration of their favourite club’s victory.
The intrepid photographer chose to comment on the matter with a touch of humour: “Clearly, the PSG fans loved the exhibition,” explains the famous artist in a video posted on his social media.
Too full o’ the milk of human kindness, he then issued an appeal “to all football fans, everyone who believes living together is important, photography lovers, and everyone who enjoyed this exhibition: please come and lend us a hand this very morning, because it’s a bit of a faff to put it all back together.”
He ended his impassioned plea with a lyrical and rather conciliatory flourish: “I’d like the exhibition to be restored. The photos are a bit damaged, but the meaning will remain. If you’d like to lend us a hand, you’re welcome at Place de la Concorde. We’re here, waiting for you. And we’ll carry on with the exhibition and keep believing in living together more than ever. I send my love to you all, I love you.”
He admitted to having been “a bit sad” all the same when he realised that the perpetrators had gone to such lengths with his photos as to “jump on them.”
Faced with such a display of good intentions, one isn’t quite sure whether to burst out laughing or into tears. This gentleman is having spit spat on him, yet continues “to believe in living together more than ever.”
Some 30 to 40 people did respond to his call to come and restore the exhibition. There will always be people willing to act as if nothing happened, ensuring that the festive charade of subsidized, bland art—which pretends to address everyone—continues uninterrupted, even as it is exactly this kind of art that is being destroyed.
The comments that have since multiplied on news sites and social media are far more sadly realistic: “Living together? Or merely confronting one another?” comments one. “Next time, the exhibition should be called: ‘How to integrate’,” suggests another. “Living together, yes, but not with everyone,” adds yet another internet user.
One could add to the list of these sardonic yet lucid comments a French hashtag that’s all the rage on X: #toutlemondesait (#everybodyknows). Yes, indeed, everyone knows who is behind this large-scale rampage. Supporters who, with all due respect to former interior minister Gérald Darmanin—who believed that the riots on match days were inevitably the fault of the English—have very little that is British about them. Supporters who have made players on Qatar’s payroll their new gods and who couldn’t care less about France to begin with and even less about living together.
On football match nights, decent people hole up at home and wait for the tsunami to pass. A tsunami that is not climatic but demographic. After the match, the current interior minister, Laurent Nunez, announced 127 arrests, 107 of them in Paris, 11 people injured, one seriously (a supporter who handled a firework mortar), and 23 police officers with minor injuries.
In the name of that famous ‘living together’ which increasingly looks like a fantasy—or a nightmare, depending on your point of view—propriety dictates that we should keep quiet and carry on as if nothing had happened. Do not stigmatise, do not complain, do not comment for fear … of what exactly? That hatred will grow stronger and violence more intense? It already has, but not on the part of those who stoop down and, gently, pick up the broken pieces. It is viscerally present in those who mock a weak and cowardly country that dares not put them in their place. It is very sad when it comes to trampled photographs. It is infinitely more serious when it comes to raped women or shattered lives, which cannot be put back together.
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